SyllabusOffice Hours:
|
Week |
Topic |
Reading |
1 |
Introduction |
Chapters 1 |
2 |
Traditional Learning Theories |
Chapter 2 |
3 |
The Modification of Instictive Behaviors |
Chapter 3 |
4 |
Principles and Applications of Pavlovian Conditioning |
Chapter 4 |
5 |
Theories of Pavlovian Conditioning |
Rescorla-Wagner Model of Classical Conditioning |
6 |
Principles and Applications of Appetative Conditioning |
Chapter 6 |
7 |
Journal Article Presentation | Chapter 6 (Test 1 on Friday if in class) |
9 |
Principles and Applications of Aversive Conditioning | Chapter 7 |
10 |
Theories of Appetitive and Aversive Conditioning |
Chapter 8 |
NEW ONLINE SCHEDULE | ||
11 |
MONDAY:
Preview Rest of Course/Finish Theories of
Appetitive and Aversive Conditioning Biological Influence on Learning |
Chapter 9 |
12 |
Stimulus Control Hannah Wilson will Present
Rawson (1973) on Friday |
Chapter 10 |
13 |
Cognitive
Control of Behavior Mayavellie Bochas will present Butler et al. (2006) on Friday |
Chapter 11 |
14 |
Motor Skills | Materials to be Provided |
Final |
Comprehensive Final |
|
Lab Schedule
Lab Number |
Lab |
Assignments |
1 | Introduction to
lab and Review of APA Style |
|
2 |
Comparing Schedules | APA style paper |
3 | Chaining | APA style paper |
4 |
Final
Project (should start as soon as possible) No final paper Still Final Presentation, see below |
Demonstration and APA Paper |
Assignments and Exams
Exams
Exams are all essay
and comprehensive. They will ask you to
critically examine the issues discussed to that point
in the course and to draw from multiple areas that we
have covered to reach a conclusion. There will
be two exams, a mid-term and a final. The
final will be a take home, of a sort, and open book.
Journal Discussion
As this is an advanced course, one of the tasks you will be given will be to lead a discussion and critique of one or more journal articles. Critiquing a journal article is one of the basic skills required of an educated person. Being able to evaluate another person's claim is key to being able to think independently and not have to follow along after experts. As such, this class will required you to demonstrate this ability. It is also an ability you will be asked to demonstrate on your comprehensive examination in psychology. Read more about this assignment here.
Applied Journal Article
In addition to the
research journal article, you will be asked to present
an article the presents or discusses a clinical
application of one of the topics of the course. There
have been many applications and we cannot discover
them all, but it is worthwhile to view of this course
material has been applied to clinical issues. Go
here for more about this assignment. See the class schedule above for the
dates of the last article presentations.
Labs and Lab Write Ups
Part of the purpose of the 300 level class in the psychology major is to expose you to different research methodologies. In Social Psychology you learn group testing methods, in Adulthood and Aging you learn qualitative methods; and Cognition, you learn repeated measure designs. Much of the field Learning is also dominated by a unique methodology, the single subject design. This method is somewhat similar to what is done in Sensation and Perception, for those of you who took that class. So these labs will work to teach you how to use individual subjects to conduct complete experiments and reach sound conclusions. We will complete two, but I am not sure if we will have a chance to do three before you need to concentrate on your final project.
The lab reports will be written according to APA format including all sections (abstract, introduction, method, results, discussion, references, etc.). You are expected, since you have had research methods, to be familiar with APA format. What you have forgotten you can look up in books in the library. I am very serious about this. On your labs your will received two grades, one for the content, one for following the format. The final grade is the average of the two grades. Any error will lead to an automatic F on the format portion of the grade, but the paper can be resubmitted for format errors but with no higher a grade than a C on that portion of the grade. So this part of the grade should be easy to get an A on. Let us see how much you can impress me.
Final Lab Project
Oh well, this had turned flat. Just as you were all getting started and I really was looking forward to your projects. Okay, this is what I propose and I am willing to discuss options. I would like to turn this from a paper to a presentation. The presentation will have two parts: 1) a discussion of the trick that you were going to do, including a discussion, in detail, of your approach to getting the rat to learn the trick. Part of the presentation should be a clear diagram of the trick and a discussion of how far you were along an any problems you had face. 2) find an animal trick video online. The trick should have multiple steps and not be a simple trick. I want you to show the trick and discuss how you think the trainer approached the training. You need to share the video with me to get approval and it is first come first served.
Grading
Each assignment will be weighted as follows to determine the final grade:Test 1 | 10% |
Final Exam | 20% |
Lab Report 1 | 10% |
Lab Report 2 | 10% |
Applied Journal Discussion | 10% |
Journal Discussion | 10% |
Final Presentation | 5% Now
15% |
Final Project Paper | 15% Now
0% |
Participation | 10% |
I am short 5% so I will take the grades out of 95% to spread the last 5% across all of the grades.